Why Annual Reports are important for NGO?
by Akshaya Patra NGO in India - Akshaya PatraCredibility, trustworthiness, and transparency are some of
the terms commonly heard while discussing about any organisation, be it a
for-profit organisation or a not-for profit organisation. And, as an
organisation grows and expands its business or service, these three factors
become even more significant. Brands and businesses from across all sectors
strives to maintain their credibility and trustworthiness by being transparent
to its stakeholders in one way or the other, and publishing Annual Report is one
of the many ways.
Annual Reports are comprehensive publications covering
highlights, developments and audited financial statements of an organisation.
Remaining specific to not-for-profit organisations, Annual Reports are a
mandatory document that the organisation has to publish and make available to
all its stakeholders. NGO Annual Reports instil a sense of confidence among all
its stakeholders regarding the organisation’s operations, growth, and fund
utilisation. Heeding to this, many NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation
diligently publishes this report annually.
Akshaya Patra is a mid-day meal NGO and is also considered
as a top NGO in India.
It has been implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme since 2000 and currently
provides nutritious meals to more than 1.7 million government school children
on each school day. The Foundation is headquartered in Bengaluru and has
operational units across 36 locations of 12 states in India. The Foundation was
selected to partner as a mid-day meal NGO after it fulfilled all the criteria
stated in the NP-NSPE 2004 guidelines. One of the criteria in the guideline is
“the chosen NGO will furnish to the body assigning the work to it an Annual
Report along with an audited statement of accounts in terms of all grants
received from the State Government, both in cash and kind, duly certified by an
approved Chartered Accountant”, and the NGO is adhering to it since the
beginning.
For NGOs, transparency is a key factor in building trust and
reliability. Hence, Akshaya Patra ensures that it maintains transparency
regarding all its activities as a mid-day meal NGO. The Foundation publishes
its Annual Reports
at the end of each financial year. It reports all the developments,
achievements, and audited financial statements of the completed financial year,
along with plans for the upcoming year. This report has received appreciation
and recognition in national and global platforms amidst NGO Annual Report
category as well as general categories for accuracy in reporting and creative
representation of the report.
A non-profit organisation can be considered to be performing
NGO role in India in
totality only when it makes available details about its operations and services
to its stakeholders and complies to standard financial procedures to release
its financial statements. In this regard, Akshaya Patra has been keeping up
with the prerequisites of a reliable NGO. This top NGO in India complies with
the Indian Accounting Standards issued by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India (ICAI). The Foundation also complies with the
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) after adopting this format
of reporting in 2008-09. Akshaya Patra has been recognised and appreciated with
the:
• ICAI Gold
Shield Award for “Excellence in Financial Reporting” for five consecutive years
since 2008-09 inducting Akshaya Patra into Hall of Fame. In addition, to the
consecutive wins, the Foundation has also has bagged the award for the latter
years
• South
Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) Best Presented Accounts Award for four
consecutive years: 2008-09 (Certificate of Merit), 2009-10 (2nd runner-up),
2010-11(Gold Award), 2011-12 (Silver Award) and 2012-13 (Gold Award)
• Australasian
Reporting Award 2017
• 24th
Annual Communicator Award for Excellence 2018
These accolades for the NGO Annual Reports have increased
the credibility of the organisation and has instilled a sense confidence and
trustworthiness among all its stakeholders. In conclusion, Annual Reports form
a very significant document for an NGO. These reports are a proof that while
working towards their respective causes NGOs are accountable and responsible
for optimum utilisation of the contributions - monetary and non-monetary, made
by their stakeholders.
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Created on Jun 22nd 2018 03:57. Viewed 478 times.